Sinclair Ferguson, in Things Unseen, says, “… there’s a reason that [worship is] worth thinking about this because a great deal of that kind of talk about worship isn’t really about God at all. It’s about us. And often it’s about what we like, what is according to our taste, more than what He actually likes, and certainly more about what we like than about what God likes.”

As we begin to answer the question, “What is Reformed Worship?” We must start with the “Who.” Who do we worship? We worship our Triune God, who exists in three persons – the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

In evangelicalism, there has been a troubling trend of “seeker-sensitive” worship services, even if we might not use that language any longer. These practices attempt to appease congregants by giving them a “style” that they prefer, comfort unbelievers by presenting a worship that doesn’t offend or confuse, and present to the world that the church possesses a knowledge and understanding of their modern context.

Please understand our point. We are not overly concerned about the instrumentation of your worship practices, though each Session should consider this when guarding and overseeing the church’s worship. Pipe organs, which are commonly used in “traditional” churches, can often hinder congregational singing just as much as screaming guitars and boisterous drums, which are commonly used in “contemporary” churches. The worship styles we are concerned about are reverence, admiration, and truthfulness. The worship practices we are concerned with are those which glorify God and acknowledge His authority over the church’s worship.

Nevertheless, worship has been a big topic in the church for the last fifty years or more. Churches arguably talk more about how we worship than any generation since the Reformation, but answering the “how” question before acknowledging who we worship sets us up for failure.

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